Bandai America Incorporated Continues Its “Powerful” Legacy as the Master Toy Licensee of Power Rangers

CYPRESS, Calif.--Bandai America Incorporated, a leading manufacturer and master toy licensee of top children's and interactive entertainment, announced today that it will continue as master toy licensee for the iconic pop culture powerhouse Power Rangers. Under the deal with Saban Brands, a new subsidiary of Saban Capital Group, Inc., Bandai America will continue its nearly twenty year tradition of developing fun and engaging action figures, playsets, role play items and more for the Power Rangers brand worldwide. The partnership comes on the heels of the announcement that the worldwide brand rights have returned to original franchise developer, Haim Saban.

“Bandai America is committed to developing innovative toys that will reignite the Power Rangers brand as it embarks upon its third decade of pop culture dominance”
In addition to Bandai America developing and manufacturing exciting new toys for the American market, Bandai Europe will also continue to produce and distribute the Power Rangers toy line across the continent. The toy lines will complement the re-imagined Power Rangers television series with new episodes set to air on Nickelodeon starting in 2011. Further, as part of the agreement, D3Publisher of America, Inc., developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, will produce video games for the Power Rangers brand.

“Bandai America is committed to developing innovative toys that will reignite the Power Rangers brand as it embarks upon its third decade of pop culture dominance,” said Masayuki Matsuo, chairman and chief executive officer, Bandai America Incorporated. “The renewal of the Bandai and Saban collaboration will spark new fans and bolster longtime fan loyalty by delivering quality entertainment and create imaginative, modern play experiences.”

“It is only natural that as Power Rangers return to its original home with Saban, the toy license remains with Bandai America, creators of inspired, inventive toys for the brand since its inception,” said Elie Dekel, managing director and head of Saban Brands. “We are confident this reignited partnership will produce continued success and introduce the Power Rangers to a new generation of kids.”

In 1993, the Power Rangers dominated the air-waves, pop culture and playtime by showing that heroes and teamwork conquer all. Throughout the last 17 years, the brand has maintained its themes of teamwork, honesty, loyalty, courage, family, friends and above all, the victory of good over evil. In the past year, Bandai America launched a refreshed Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toy line to match the revamped Mighty Morphin television series.

About Bandai America Incorporated

A leader in developing engaging, quality toys that capture children's imaginative spirit and provide endless "Fun For The Future," Bandai America Incorporated is the manufacturer and master toy licensee of some of the most popular brands in children's toys and interactive entertainment today. The Bandai America brand family includes Power Rangers®, Ben 10™, Harumika®, Tamagotchi®, Pocoyo™ and Teeny Little Families™ among other boys, girls, pre-school and hobby product lines. Bandai America Incorporated is a subsidiary of NAMCO BANDAI Holdings (USA) Inc., an entity that resulted from the integration of Namco Ltd. and Bandai Co. Ltd. of Japan. Global interests encompass four strategic business units: toys and hobby, amusement facilities, game contents & visual and music content. The company is headquartered in Cypress, California. Find out more about our expertise in connecting with kids in fun and fresh ways at www.Bandai.com.

About Saban Capital Group

Saban Capital Group (“SCG”) is a leading private investment firm based in Los Angeles specializing in the media, entertainment and communications industries. Established in 2001 by Haim Saban, the firm makes both controlling and minority investments in public and private companies and takes an active role in its portfolio companies. SCG's current private equity investments include Univision (the premier Spanish-language media company in the US) and Tiger Gate Entertainment (a joint venture with Lionsgate to operate branded pay television channels across Asia). The firm formed the Saban Ventures subsidiary in 2008 to make early-stage investments in digital media, mobile and consumer internet endeavors and in 2010 formed Saban Brands LLC, a subsidiary to acquire, manage and license entertainment properties and consumer brands across media and consumer platforms globally. In addition, SCG actively manages a globally diversified portfolio of investments across public equities, credit, alternative investments, and real property assets. For more information, please visit www.Saban.com

About D3Publisher

D3Publisher is a video game publisher for Wii™, Nintendo DS™, the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. D3Publisher has operations in the U.S., and Japan. The company also owns development studio Vicious Cycle Software, Inc., and its technology platform, Vicious Engine®. For more information about D3Publisher, please visit: www.d3publisher.us.

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